Books Blog

This morning I noticed an interesting new book on jewelry making called Kilobyte Couture: Geek Chic Jewelry to Make from Easy-to-Find Computer Components by Brittany Forks. I was curious to see if there are any other books on jewelry making with unusual...

The Bone Garden (2008) by Tess Gerritsen is an almost gothic novel of suspense, romance, medicine, poor Irish Immigrants, and Boston's wealthy. Recently divorced Julia buys an old house just outside of Boston and begins restoration of the house and...

Hands of My Father (2009) by Myron Uhlberg , a successful author of children’s/juvenile fiction, is a nicely written memoir of growing up at the tail end of the depression and through WWII as the child of deaf parents. Uhlberg does not romanticize...

This morning over my first cup of coffee I read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness ; and then Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird . I decided to read The Three Musketeers before jumping in the shower. This delightful book reduces most of the canon...

I just finished this fascinating book called Room by Emma Donoghue. The story is told by Jack, a very bright five yr. old who knows nothing of Outside. There is Ma who has tried to shield Jack from all the ugliness in their lives. She's done so well...

Join me with your latest stitching creation whether it is crochet, knitting, or embroidery, in the Cup and Chaucer Cafe at Central Library on January 18 starting around 6pm. We will be discussing Wuthering Heights while working on craft projects during...

Lately, my reading time has been spent in Westeros , a world created by George R. R. Martin for his series, A Song of Ice and Fire . My son is a longtime Martin fan, and many library customers are as well: all are anxiously awaiting Book 5 in the set...

"Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the...

The plot of this week's Bad Movie is about a wealthy but miserable old lady who schemes with a scientist to have her brain implanted in a sexy young woman. The movie itself, along with the help from the Mystery Science crew make this movie a must...

I love to listen to memoirs read by the authors that wrote them. Not so long ago, I was quite skeptical of all audiobooks. I viewed listening to a book as cheating, unless it was a matter of poor eyesight. I have, however, warmed somewhat to audiobooks...

I don't want to alarm anyone, but Christmas is coming; in fact it's less than two months away. Now, it's still entirely too early to be putting up tinsel and whatnot, but it is absolutely time to get on the waiting lists for these new Christmas...

Let's play a literary version of the popular association game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” Here’s the Wikipedia explanation of the original idea. Ready? Here goes: How are best-selling writer Laura Lippman and Vernon Jordan, the...

Oh My Stars (2005) is the first novel by Lorna Landvik that I have read. It was touching and funny. In this novel set during the depression, 18-year-old Violet Mathers has decided to take the bus from her hometown in Kentucky to San Francisco so she can...

I am a Sandra Dallas fan. I know she usually appeals more to women than men, but her stories are always set in the late 1800's or early 1900's and usually in Colorado or the surrounds and I like them. Prayers for Sale (2009) is no exception, it...

In January, I made a New Year's Resolution (even though I don't like New Year's Resolutions) to cook and bake more. I've used recipes from many sources but some of the best have been from Baking Illustrated by the editors of Cook's...